TUMAKURU: Avian influenza scare has hit rural Tumakuru as National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, has confirmed that about 40 wild peacocks that died in a span of 10 days in April second week were hit by the H5N1 virus.
Six persons, mostly farmers, are being treated symptomatically and quarantined in their homes apart from 26 forest officials who had handled the carcasses.
On Friday, Deputy Commissioner Subha Kalyan held an emergency meeting with the State Epidemic Diseases Awareness Committee and district-level officials. The DC asked the people not to panic and be alert.
The death of peacocks under suspicious circumstances was reported at Kolihalli forest in Urdigere hobli on April 16.
The DC said that the district administration had immediately formed a rapid response team (RRT) and took steps to prevent the spread of the epidemic.
Five villages of Urdigere hobli including Kolihalli, Ullenahalli, Bommanahalli, Bhyirasandra, and Kallalli villages and within a 10-kilometer radius around them are under intensive surveillance.
A team of officials from departments of forest, animal husbandry, health, Gram Panchayat and revenue is createing awareness among the public.
Meat and chicken shops in the area have been closed. “H5N1 virus is a serious infection and the public needs to be vigilant. If any unusual death of chickens is found in any poultry farms, the Smart City Control Room should be informed. Since the disease is likely to spread from wildlife, it is not possible to say how it spreads. After the Kolihalli incident, there has been no report of any death of peacocks. And it is not known that this disease has spread to domestic animals,” the DC said.
Bird flu: Authorities step up surveillance
On Friday morning, however, 15 chickens died at Bommanahalli poultry and the samples have been sent to the laboratory, the DC added. In connection with the unusual death of chickens, the owners of the poultry farm and the neighboring households have been advised to stay at home and to bury the chicken waste deep in the ground.
The DC said that precautionary measures such as spraying sodium chlorite have been taken at poultry farms. Committees have been formed in all taluks of the district and all precautionary measures have been taken, the DC added. It is advisable for those who eat chicken to eat well-cooked food.
“It’s for the first time H5N1 is reported in the district and the source of infection to the peacocks is yet to be ascertained,” said Assistant Conservator of Forests V Pavithra.
